A Musical Journey from Persia to Jerusalem

عشيرة بناي
هذا هو لحننا
معرض جديد في متحف برج داود

זאת המנגינה שלנו


The vast repertoire of music, literature and art created by the extended Banai family are among the intricate cultural pieces that give Israel its unique identity. The mulberry tree,  #1 Pear Stree, scents of jasmine, an old melody, the Machane Yehuda market and the neighborhoods of Nachlaot are now  more than objects and locations. Through their cultural reconception they have found their way into collective Israeli pop culture, sparking nostalgia and sentiment for Jerusalem.

This new exhibition at the Tower of David is a sensory musical journey of the voices, the sounds and the sights that tell the history of a family whose story embodies the story of Israel.

The story begins in far-off Shiraz, Persia, the city from which Rachamim Banai and his wife, Kanum, immigrated to the Old City of Jerusalem in 1881. The Banai story takes us from the Old City through the neighborhoods of the Machane Yehuda market, wandering through childhood vistas, inspirational spaces and historical events in the family’s narrative through the first, second, third and fourth generations.

The new BANAI exhibition is an old-new song calling from Shiraz through Jerusalem and Tel-Aviv and alternates between the traditional and the modern, between the secular and the sacred.

Opening Spring 2020